Sour Grapes?

I am really annoyed by a blog and particular post I ran across earlier today. I don’t think I want to name it, and didn’t leave a comment because frankly I couldn’t think of anything to say except “get over yourself.”

It was ironically enough titled “Authors Behaving Badly” and I guess you can search on it if you’re interested enough, but the gist of it was the state of publishing today, and how self-publishing is becoming so common that everyone and his dog is publishing their books and then spamming everyone on social networking sites with ads for their books. Ok, fair enough, that is obnoxious.

But the final line of the post is what really got to me.

It’s not pretty out there, people. So those of you who kind of suck at writing, (you’d know who you are if you read what you wrote) could you just roll over? The rest of us are feeling crowded.

Umm… listen Princess, if you can’t take the heat get out of the kitchen. Being whiny and petulant is not going to convince me of anyone’s prowess as a writer. Maybe this self-admitted “mid-list” author needs to get out of the field, and leave getting published to the Edith Whartons, Joyce Carol Oates, Junot Diaz, Isabel Allende, John Updike and the Annie Proulx’s of the world. If self-publishing by bad writers is such a threat, then this is probably not the best line of work to be in. At least until you grow up a little and learn to play with the big kids.

Plenty of bad books get published by “traditional” publishing houses, and plenty of good books that deserve to be published are not.

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Published by D. D. Syrdal

Writer of vampire stories and science fiction. First novel, "Revenants Abroad", available now at Amazon. If you like a vampire you can go out drinking with and still respect yourself in the morning, I think you'd like Andrej.
View all posts by D. D. Syrdal

Preach it, Sister! I love when you get all fired up. I didn’t read the post in question, but I’m very familiar with the attitude. In this world there are those who encourage and those who try to shut people down. Sounds like you ran into one of the latter.

Haha! 🙂 Seriously, though, I have never seen a good writer feeling threatened by lesser writers. I’ve never seen any writer’s Web site that actively discouraged people from trying to write. On the contrary, most writers put up pages on how to improve your writing, and encouraging words.

it reminds me of boxers or NBA players talking trash before the match – acceptable in sports, but a writer who carries on like that doesn’t sound like much of a writer. Besides, what are we to make of a blogger who objects to self-publishing? If she’s so special that she deserves to tell everyone else to get out of the way, why isn’t she getting PAID to write for the New Yorker or something?

Not to sound too catty, but I cannot help but notice by the quotation given that the critic is also a hypocrite. Her statement has cliches and slang; it is not exactly profound. I am sure the editors help her out, though. >meow<

Move over, janflora, and let me at that saucer of milk. I was thinking much the same thing – among us semi- or non-professional writers, I try not to snipe or criticize, but for somebody who thinks she’s All That, the original blogger was just not overwhelming me w/her dazzling command of the language, y’know?